please help!!!

Question
hello Chris,
       i have unfortunately lost my female lovebird leaving three chicks who are 15-22 days old, the male seems to be feeding them and i was wondering if he is likely to feed all three or if he will leave the youngest out of his care.
  would it be advisable to pull the youngest for hand feeding or is it best to leave him to it?
   the male is a dutch blue pied, and the chicks are, 1 lutino, 1 dutch blue pied, and the youngest is a dutch blue.
many many thanks.....................Darren

Answer
Hi, Darren.  Thanks for posting!

I don't know...depends on the individual bird.  However, it's your job to watch the youngest, as well as all the babies, to ensure they are being fed properly.  This is a big job for this male, so I wouldn't be surprised if he had problems.  You might want to help out and handfeed the babies once or twice a day just to help the male.  Evidently, you aren't pulling these babies completely from the parent for handfeeding so they will be tame enough to handle (so you can sell or give them away if you don't want to keep them all).

What caused the loss of your female?  If she passed away from illness, my concern is whether she may have passed any illness on to the babies and perhaps your male adult lovie.  You might think about consulting with an avian veterinarian if this is the case or you could end up with a bunch of sick birds.  

My website has information you'll be needing:

http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

Come back with any questions.

Chrys